ChicagoCita

I'm still just stunned that the Arizona Snowflake -- who not even a year ago snapped at septuagenarian Joy Behar, who was on the show literally on Day One: "YOUR JOB IS TO LISTEN TO ME!" -- has the ever-loving nerve to throw a hissy fit when called out, calmly, on screaming at the person two feet away from her. "You're rude!" Classic bully: Can dish it out, but can't take it.

I eliminated La Marseillaise thanks to music appreciation class in 8th grade, when we had to listen to and dissect the 1812 Overture. The French side in the battles is represented musically by La Marseillaise, and I was pretty sure 1812 was written prior to 1880. (Turns out it was written in 1880, so that was some lucky dicey logic on my part. 😉 ) Thanks, Mr. Persson, I remembered something you taught us 48 years later.

I've had plenty of paranormal things happen when I'm around, and while they do startle me, I'm never afraid. I think because they happen in our long-time family home, and I'm the one who does the genealogy and restores tombstones, etc., they're not causing any harm. I like Ghost Hunters best because they rarely say the spirits mean to hurt people. I like their explanation that they're people, just without bodies. I get tired of the ghost shows all claiming hauntings are demons. GH is great in that respect.

Oh, nice! I have that on my DVR waiting to be watched. I'll pay special attention. Thank you!

She had quite the life, which I wish I'd known when I was butchering piano pieces with her. Her father was George Remus, a Chicago lawyer turned bootlegger, upon whom the character of Gatsby was supposedly based. He killed his second wife upon getting out of prison -- she'd taken up with the fed who put him behind bars -- and Romola was all over Time magazine in her 1920s flapper clothes, supporting her daddy. He beat the rap; she performed in vaudeville palaces to pay for his legal bills. All I knew was she showed infinite patience with my lack of musical talent and gave me a Bible for Christmas.

Huh. It never dawned on me that there were two gems prevalent in the story. I went right to ruby slippers when arriving at the answer. My own trivia is that my childhood piano teacher, Romola Remus, played Dorothy in the first, silent-screen film version of The Wizard of Oz.

Exactly! She talks about how harassed she is, how it's an elitist bubble, how "real people" live in the middle of the country (which apparently somehow includes Arizona), how creepy it is to be surrounded by liberals ... and suddenly today she's singing and dancing her way through two choruses of I Love New York. What the hell happened?

I have a good friend your age who is still a huge Beatles fan. She and her family always watched the Sullivan show. When the Beatles came on in February '64, she fell on the floor and started crying and screaming. After it was over, she and her best friend, who had had a similar reaction, got on the phone and started all over again, recounting it. Their mothers shooed them off their respective phones and had a conversation that started out with, "What just happened?" So thanks to Kathy, I got FJ. I loved Valerie's voice -- it reminded me of Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins -- but she was dreadfully slow.

I'm so happy to see him looking in good health. My aunt was diagnosed with and died of pancreatic cancer within a matter of months, just the summer, basically. It was painful for her. My hope is that Alex is a success story against this awful disease.

When I was growing up, the common phrase was "mentally r*******." I know it's not correct to say that now, and I say "developmentally disabled" instead. BUT -- my first instinct is to go with what I grew up with. I find myself having to "translate" what comes into my head before it comes out my mouth. But never to bully or harass! And I do correct people who use it as an insult. With everything that's going on with POTUS and the lies and cruelty on display daily, I find it distressing that more attention is going to gaffes and missteps like Biden's and Harris's, which somehow makes them seem equivalent to the corruption going on every day. Get it together, media, no one is perfect, no one doesn't say stupid stuff on occasion. But I don't think Biden would lie about his tax returns or emoluments, and I don't think Harris would ban people with no homes from coming to this country after a national disaster. That's what I'm looking at, not wrong words or agreeing with someone who uses an offensive phrase to describe the POTUS.

Exactly. It's fun when the hosts acknowledge the audience, and there's some back-and-forth between them. Example: the lady in the great hat who was acknowledged earlier this week and was given screen time so everyone could see her very striking hat. And last season, when they did nearly an entire segment on an elderly former serviceman who was in the audience. As far as I could tell, it was an off-the-cuff moment, and it was a definite plus for everyone. If you're going to have that -- and those were both charming moments that made everyone look good -- then you're going to have to have occasional "whooping" in reaction to the panel's discussions. The man whooped once. He wasn't obnoxious. He wasn't heckling. Meghan's dismissive response to him was the ugly part.

I believe the difference in perception is that MW's deleted tweet implied that people have the power to change weather and natural events through the powers of their minds. And prayer is people asking a deity to change weather and natural events for the greater good. My brand of Christianity leads me to ask for prayers for personal guidance in coping and assisting with whatever happens. And that's all the proselytizing I'll ever do here. 😉

Oh, Meghan. USA Today: Meghan McCain on being 'The View's only conservative voice: 'I'm representing 50% of the country' Funny how she sits at the table with Abby Huntsman and Ana Navarro and still can't acknowledge that they're there.

I can see where it grates, but I'd rather she be honest about her wealth growing up than pretending to be a middle-class kid. I already throw up in my mouth a little when she affects a Western drawl every time she talks about being a "good ol' girl" (pay attention, you'll notice it). I'd rather not have her pretend to be Susie from P.S. 18, too.

Just about every family that's been in this country for a while has a story about a Native American ancestor. That's how we used to learn things, stories passed down from our older relatives. It was only with the advent of commercial DNA kits that we learned more about our genetic makeup. My family all knows about our Algonquin ancestry. Hell, I did book reports in grade school on the Algonquins ("They were a peaceful people"). In the past couple years, I've had my DNA analyzed by two different companies and guess what? 100% Northern European. Not a drop of anything else. So does that make me a liar? My ancestors liars? No. It's what we grew up hearing. Elizabeth Warren is no different... except she actually has a Native American in her family tree.

I was livid when Meghan said, "If you’re talking about going and taking people’s guns away from them, there’s going to be a lot of violence." I guess seven dead people, 21 injured, and a 17-month-old baby shot in the face just days ago doesn't qualify as "violence" to her? A 17-month-old will be disfigured for life as a worthy sacrifice to the "must have guns" gods? Meghan usually makes me roll my eyes, but her callous attitude toward the people dead and injured because there are no controls on who can buy a weapon of war makes me want to throw up. Ana is hunkered down in Miami. It probably depends on how Dorian goes.

I admit to being tickled at the beginning of the show, when Sunny very pointedly kept up her tradition of letting Meghan walk out alone, then trails in a good ten feet behind her, chatting and smiling with Joy. I love a woman who can hold a good grudge!

Meg-GUN?

I think what Meghan meant is that she's the only one on the panel to fetishize guns and make them part of her identity. Responsible and SANE gun owners see them as tools, something they own and hope never to have to use. Like, say, a sump pump.

Yep. For better or worse, they're back!

This Wednesday's show is a return to St. Augustine. It's a twofer with a visit to a home in Pennsylvania, though, so I'm not expecting too much. The program guide says Grant returns to the lighthouse after getting reports of increased paranormal activity.

I'm not sure if it was Ghost Hunters who went to the Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, Arizona, but there's supposed to be a little ghost boy there who like shiny objects. We brought lots of costume jewelry and left it out on the dresser. I was like a kid at Christmas, I woke up every hour to check on it. Alas, it didn't move overnight.

Sherry Shepherd was on the $100,000 Pyramid this past Sunday, and amazingly she was really good. I thought she would be terrible. Makes me wonder if her "dummy" persona is just that, a persona.

$450K seems incredibly cheap. In my still slightly dicey part of Chicago, a nice 3-bedroom condo goes for $350K-$385K, so a luxurious, historic six-bedroom mansion for only $100K more seems unbelievable. I wish there were some middle ground between Grant's "I don't need any more excitement from the paranormal" and Ghost Adventures' shrieks of panic/getting possessed every other episode. Frankly, I do watch paranormal shows for excitement. Loved the Stanley Hotel, Eastern Penn State Sanitorium, and St. Augustine lighthouse GH eps for exactly that reason. I'm finding this reboot a little too laid-back (although preferable to Zak and the "bros" on GA). I do like Kindred Spirits and Paranormal Lockdown for striking some middle ground. Jury's still out on Haunted Towns, but I watch it. 😉

I've got mixed feelings about this hiatus. On one hand, I miss my routine: coming downstairs, feeding the cats, making breakfast, and sitting down to see what's going on in the world (yes, the topics are still "hot" when you're a night owl!). On the other hand, I've gotten a lot done this month without TV to distract me during the day (the three shows I follow, The View, The Talk, and Jeopardy are all on hiatus). I'd like to see the ladies (and Meghan) again, but I could stand to wait another month or so.